The present invention relates to configuration control apparatus for applying force couples to distort a deformable specimen and particularly, the application of such apparatus to electromagnetic radiation or optical elements. To vary the configuration of deformable specimens is generally important in many fields, such as antennae in communications and reflective elements in optical systems. Although configuration control apparatus for deformable specimens are known in these fields, most such apparatus distorted the specimen by applying forces normal to a surface thereon with the resulting reaction forces being transmitted through the supporting structure thereof. To avoid transmission of the reaction forces, apparatus has recently been developed which distorts the specimen by applying equal and opposite moments thereto through posts extending perpendicularly therefrom with force producing actuators being disposed between the posts, as described in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 677,219, now Pat. No. 4,066,343, assigned to the assignee of this invention. Because this apparatus requires two locations on the specimen for each distortion input, configuration control therewith is more complicated than necessary for many applications.